Free to a good home: One high-powered, state-of-the-art icebreaking commuter ferry.

Alaska's Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the local government for the region north of Anchorage, is seeking takers for a sophisticated vessel bestowed on it three years ago but which has never been put to its intended use.

The M/V Sustina, an $80-million, Navy-funded prototype, is docked 800 miles southeast of the borough in Ketchikan, the city where it was built and christened.

The ship, obtained with the help of the late Senator Ted Stevens, was intended to be a precursor to the Knik Arm Bridge, a controversial project that would link Port Mackenzie, near Wasilla, to downtown Anchorage...Visit Reuters for full article

"Matanuska-Susitna will be accepting bids for the Susitna through March 29.

Meanwhile, the Knik Arm Bridge remains a project on the drawing boards. The bridge was one of two in Alaska that received congressional earmarks in 2005 - later rescinded.

An agency created by the state, the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority, is seeking private funding for the bridge. The most recent official cost estimate for the first phase of construction is $706 million, according to the authority."

Seems these monsters of the good old 'earmark' days take on a life of their own, even after a wooden stake through the heart!

One more piece of political lard from Senator Stevens' legacy of largesse. Now it is a Ferry to Nowhere!!! The revelations of this old goat's largesse will continue for the next decade as we learn about his hidden projects at Elmendorf, Eielson, Sparvohn, and Clear AFBs, and other little known to unknown military bases and posts in Alaska

Rather than giving it away to some South American dictator or the Soviets, sink it off the Florida Keys to create a great reef and marine sanctuary, the most expensive one in the world! Perhaps Royal Dutch Shell may offer $500 million while they continue their Arctic exploration binge.

From the article: "Its reinforced hull can power through ice, and blade-like "ice knives" were designed to break up chunks that might be sucked into the engine."

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I can think of one of our islands here that could use a new ferry, but not sure that we need one with blade-like "ice knives" as we are experiencing (as I have been told) "global warming" here in Florida.